System, method and article of manufacture to facilitate a financial transaction without unlocking a mobile device

ABSTRACT

A financial transaction is facilitated without unlocking a mobile device, where the lock screen wallpaper of a mobile device is dynamically set to an image having a scanning code (e.g., a QR code, a barcode, etc.) for use at a business location that the user is currently located.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of Invention

The present invention relates generally to the field of mobile-basedfinancial transactions. More specifically, the present invention isrelated to a system, method and article of manufacture to facilitate afinancial transaction at a business location without unlocking a mobiledevice.

Discussion of Related Art

It is well known in the art to utilize a mobile device, such as acellular phone, to conduct financial transactions. As an example, amobile device can be used to pay for financial transaction at a retailestablishment. One such example is discussed below to note some of theproblems associated with the prior art in conducting such financialtransactions.

A retail establishment, e.g., ABC Coffee Shop, may have a software (mayalso be called an application or app) that a user is able to download onhis/her mobile device. Once the software is downloaded and installed bythe user of the mobile device, the user can then power up/open themobile device, click on an icon representative of the software, and runthe software on the mobile device, which may display, as part of therunning software, a scannable barcode. Users are, therefore, able to usethe software installed on the mobile device to conduct a transaction atthe retail establishment, which in this example is the ABC Coffee Shop,by having someone at the retail establishment scan the barcode, whichallows the user to purchase an item (or items) that he/she desires tobuy.

A problem with this scenario is that the user has to go through numeroussteps in order to access the software and pay for a purchase, whichstarts by unlocking the phone, finding the right page having the iconrepresentative of the desired software, clicking on the icon for thedesired software, navigating within the software to the appropriatelocation to load up the barcode that may be used for payment, andpresenting the barcode to the retail establishment. This process is timeconsuming and is also error-prone.

This problem is further compounded for users with numerous softwareapplications that are currently installed on their mobile device, whichmakes it even more difficult and time consuming to locate and run thesoftware. One mechanism provided for in various mobile devices is theability to search for a software among the list of installed software.But, even this approach requires the user to unlock the phone, type thefirst few characters of the software name (if the user can remember thename) and find an appropriate match in the results for the softwarecorresponding to the retail establishment, i.e., the ABC Coffee Shop,run the software, and navigate within the software to the appropriateportion of the software that deals with conducting a transaction. Thisprocess even more time consuming that the scenario discussed previouslyand is also error-prone.

Additionally, there is no non-intrusive way to authenticate the user asan authorized person to use the mobile device in such a financialtransaction. The prior art provides intrusive mechanisms to verify auser's identity where, for example, a user may be asked to provide a pincode as an input prior to proceeding with a financial transaction.

Embodiments of the present invention are an improvement over prior artsystems and methods.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides for a method to facilitate a financialtransaction without unlocking a mobile device, wherein the methodcomprises: identifying the mobile device is at a business location;passively authenticating a user of the mobile device as an authorizeduser of the mobile device, and upon successful authentication:dynamically setting lock screen wallpaper in the mobile device to animage having a scanning code (e.g., a QR code, a barcode, etc.) for useat the business location; activating a display of the mobile device andrendering the image having a scannable code as the lock screen wallpaperon the activated display of the mobile device which remains in thescreen locked state; and facilitating a financial transaction at thebusiness location based on the scannable code displayed as the lockscreen wallpaper of the mobile device, the financial transactionfacilitated without having to unlock the mobile device.

The present invention also provides for an article of manufacture havingnon-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computerreadable program code executable by a processor to implement a method tofacilitate a financial transaction without unlocking a mobile device,the non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising: computerreadable program code identifying the mobile device is at a businesslocation; computer readable program code passively authenticating a userof the mobile device as an authorized user of the mobile device, andupon successful authentication: computer readable program codedynamically setting lock screen wallpaper in the mobile device to animage having a scanning code (e.g., a QR code, a barcode, etc.) for useat the business location; computer readable program code activating adisplay of the mobile device and rendering the image having a scannablecode as the lock screen wallpaper on the activated display of the mobiledevice which remains in the screen locked state; and computer readableprogram code facilitating a financial transaction at the businesslocation based on the scannable code displayed as the lock screenwallpaper of the mobile device, the financial transaction facilitatedwithout having to unlock the mobile device.

In one embodiment, the method further comprises reverting the lockscreen wallpaper to a default lock screen wallpaper upon successfulcompletion of the financial transaction.

In one embodiment, the financial transaction is associated with afinancial account and the method further comprises updating the lockscreen wallpaper to another image showing a balance left on thefinancial account after successful completion of the financialtransaction.

In one embodiment, the method further comprises reverting the lockscreen wallpaper to a default lock screen wallpaper upon leaving thebusiness location.

In one embodiment, the step of identifying the mobile device is at thebusiness location is based on GPS data received at the mobile device.

In one embodiment, the step of identifying the mobile device is at thebusiness location is based upon a near field communication (NFC)interaction with a device at the business location. In an extendedembodiment, the device at the business location is a NFC tag. In yetanother extended embodiment, the NFC tag is either integrated into apoint-of-sale terminal or is attached to a point-of-sale terminal at thebusiness location.

In one embodiment, the step of identifying the mobile device is at thebusiness location is based upon a RFID interaction with a device at thebusiness location. In an extended embodiment, the device at the businesslocation is a RFID tag. In yet another extended embodiment, the RFID tagis either integrated into a point-of-sale terminal or is attached to apoint-of-sale terminal at the business location.

In one embodiment, the step of identifying the mobile device is at thebusiness location is based upon a Bluetooth interaction with a device atthe business location. In an extended embodiment, the device at thebusiness location is a point-of-sale terminal.

In one embodiment, the scannable code comprises user-definedcustomization data related to the financial transaction in addition toinformation required to perform the financial transaction.

In one embodiment, the financial transaction is a cloud-basedtransaction, wherein a payment provider automatically covers the cost ofa purchase with issuer linked funds and, in a separate transaction, thepayment provider charging the purchaser's selected, cloud-linked accountin a card-not-present environment to recoup its losses on the firsttransaction.

Non-limiting examples of the mobile device include any of the following:a mobile phone, a tablet, a portable gaming device or a digital musicplayer.

The present invention also provides a method to facilitate a financialtransaction without unlocking a mobile device comprising: identifyingthe mobile device is at a business location; passively authenticating auser of the mobile device as an authorized user of the mobile devicenear a point of sale terminal at the business location, and uponsuccessful authentication: dynamically setting lock screen wallpaper inthe mobile device to an image having a scanning code for use at thebusiness location; activating a display of the mobile device andrendering the image having a scannable code as the lock screen wallpaperon the activated display of the mobile device which remains in thescreen locked state; and facilitating a financial transaction at thebusiness location based on the scannable code displayed as the lockscreen wallpaper of the mobile device, the financial transactionfacilitated without having to unlock the mobile device.

The present invention also provides for an article of manufacture havingnon-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computerreadable program code executable by a processor to implement a method tofacilitate a financial transaction without unlocking a mobile device,the non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising: computerreadable program code identifying the mobile device is at a businesslocation; computer readable program code passively authenticating a userof the mobile device as an authorized user of the mobile device near apoint of sale terminal at the business location, and upon successfulauthentication: computer readable program code dynamically setting lockscreen wallpaper in the mobile device to an image having a scanning codefor use at the business location; computer readable program codeactivating a display of the mobile device and rendering the image havinga scannable code as the lock screen wallpaper on the activated displayof the mobile device which remains in the screen locked state; andcomputer readable program code facilitating a financial transaction atthe business location based on the scannable code displayed as the lockscreen wallpaper of the mobile device, the financial transactionfacilitated without having to unlock the mobile device.

The present invention also provides for a mobile device comprising: aprocessor; a display; and storage storing computer readable programmablecode, which when executed by the processor implements a method tofacilitate a financial transaction without unlocking a mobile device,the storage comprising computer readable program code to: identify themobile device is at a business location; passively authenticate a userof the mobile device as an authorized user of the mobile device, andupon successful authentication: dynamically set lock screen wallpaper inthe mobile device to an image having a scanning code for use at thebusiness location; activate the display of the mobile device and renderthe image having a scannable code as the lock screen wallpaper on theactivated display of the mobile device which remains in the screenlocked state; and facilitate a financial transaction at the businesslocation based on the scannable code displayed as the lock screenwallpaper of the mobile device, the financial transaction facilitatedwithout having to unlock the mobile device.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention to facilitatea financial transaction without unlocking a mobile device.

FIG. 2 illustrates another embodiment of the present invention tofacilitate a financial transaction without unlocking a mobile device.

FIG. 3 depicts a non-limiting example of a mobile device according tothe present invention.

FIG. 4 depicts an example of such an image having the scannable codewherein the image is rendered as the lock screen wallpaper.

FIG. 5 depicts an example of a default lock screen wallpaper.

FIG. 6 depicts an example where the image having the scanning code iscentered and partially covers the default lock screen wallpaper of FIG.5.

FIG. 7 depicts an example of an image showing the scanning code and anaccount balance.

FIG. 8 depicts an example of a digital receipt shown as part of the lockscreen background.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

While this invention is illustrated and described in a preferredembodiment, the invention may be produced in many differentconfigurations. There is depicted in the drawings, and will herein bedescribed in detail, a preferred embodiment of the invention, with theunderstanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as anexemplification of the principles of the invention and the associatedfunctional specifications for its construction and is not intended tolimit the invention to the embodiment illustrated. Those skilled in theart will envision many other possible variations within the scope of thepresent invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of the present invention whichdiscloses method 100 to facilitate a financial transaction withoutunlocking a mobile device. In step 102, the mobile device is identifiedto be at a business location. In one embodiment, the mobile device isidentified as being located at the business location based on GPS datareceived at the mobile device. In another embodiment, the mobile deviceis identified as being located at the business location based upon anear field communication (NFC) interaction with a device at the businesslocation. For example, the device at the business location may be a NFCtag and the mobile device may interact with such a NFC tag to confirmthat it is located at a particular business location. In yet anotherextended embodiment, the NFC tag is either integrated into apoint-of-sale terminal or is attached to a point-of-sale terminal at thebusiness location.

In another embodiment, the mobile device is identified as being locatedat the business location based on a RFID interaction with a device atthe business location. For example, the device at the business locationmay be a RFID tag and the mobile device may interact with such a RFIDtag to confirm that it is located at a particular business location. Inyet another extended embodiment, the RFID tag is either integrated intoa point-of-sale terminal or is attached to a point-of-sale terminal atthe business location.

In yet another embodiment the mobile device is identified as beinglocated at the business location based on a Bluetooth interaction with adevice at the business location. For example, the device at the businesslocation may be a point-of-sale terminal that can communicate viaBluetooth with the mobile device.

In step 104, the mobile device passively authenticates a user as anauthorized user of the mobile device. It is important to note that inthe preferred embodiment, the authentication of the user is done in anon-invasive manner, where the user is unaware that such anauthentication is taking place. Such non-invasive techniques includefingerprint recognition when the user places their hand on the screen,where such fingerprint recognition is done without the knowledge of theuser, facial recognition where such facial recognition is done withoutthe knowledge of the user, retinal authentication where such retinalauthentication is done without the knowledge of the user, authenticationbased on identifying the presence of another electronic device (e.g.,another tablet, mobile device, etc.) which is also associated with thesame user, or accessing a profile and authenticating said user as anauthorized user when there is a match between a current time (they areat the business location) and a past time in said profile (when the sameuser has visited the same business location in the past). It shouldfurther be noted that while there is always a primary user associatedwith a mobile device, there may also be secondary users associated withthe same mobile device. For example, the same mobile device may be usedby a husband and wife, son or daughter, as the primary user mayauthorize such secondary users to be authorized users of the mobiledevice. A user of the mobile device may maintain a profile andcorresponding passive recognition data to identify a plurality of suchauthorized users of the same mobile device.

Upon successfully authenticating an authorized user, in step 106, aprocessor in the mobile device dynamically sets a lock screen wallpaperin the mobile device to an image having a scanning code (e.g., a QRcode, a barcode, etc.) for use at the business location the user is at.It is important to note that the lock screen wallpaper, which isdisplayed when the mobile device is in a locked state to conserve power,is updated, and not the home screen wallpaper, which is generallydisplayed when a mobile device is not in a locked state.

In step 108, a display of the mobile device is activated and the imagehaving the scannable code is rendered as the lock screen wallpaper onthe activated display of the mobile device which remains in the screenlocked state. Such activation may be user initiated or triggeredautomatically (e.g., when the mobile device is proximate to a point ofsale terminal). FIG. 4 depicts an example of such an image having thescannable code wherein the image is rendered as the lock screenwallpaper.

In step 110, a financial transaction is facilitated at the businesslocation based on the scannable code displayed as the lock screenwallpaper of the mobile device, wherein such a financial transaction isfacilitated without having to unlock the mobile device. For example, theattendant at the point of sale terminal may scan the scannable codedisplayed as the lock screen wallpaper of the mobile device and afinancial transaction could be completed at the point of sale terminalfor an item (or items) the user may wish to purchase at the businesslocation.

In an alternative embodiment, the image having a scanning code (e.g., aQR code, a barcode, etc.) may be rendered in front of a default lockscreen wallpaper (where it visually covers the entirety of the defaultlock screen wallpaper and looks like FIG. 4) or in front of a portion ofthe default lock screen wallpaper (see FIG. 5 for an example of adefault lock screen wallpaper, and FIG. 6 for an example where the imagehaving the scanning code is centered and partially covers the defaultlock screen wallpaper), where the default lock screen wallpaper iseither a custom image previously set by the user of the mobile device oris the system default of the mobile device (the system default image forthe lock screen wallpaper when the user has not previously set the lockscreen wallpaper to a custom image). The point of sale terminal is ableto scan the scannable code to complete a purchase at the businesslocation.

In one embodiment, the method further comprises reverting the lockscreen wallpaper to a default lock screen wallpaper (i.e., a lock screenwallpaper previously set by a user) upon either a successful completionof the financial transaction or upon the user leaving the premises ofthe business location.

In one embodiment, the financial transaction is associated with afinancial account (e.g., an account associated with a credit cardaccount, a gift card, a credit account associated with the business,etc.) and the method further comprises updating the lock screenwallpaper to another image showing a balance left on the financialaccount after successful completion of the financial transaction. Afterdisplaying the image showing the balance as the lock screen wallpaper,the mobile device may revert to a default lock screen wallpaper (i.e., alock screen wallpaper previously set by a user) upon either theexpiration of a pre-determined time (e.g., a few seconds after thedisplay of the image showing the balance) or upon the user leaving thepremises of the business location.

In one embodiment, the image having a scanning code for use at thebusiness additionally displays a balance associated with a financialaccount which is used during the financial transaction. Such an exampleis shown in FIG. 7 which depicts the scanning code and the balance aspart of the lock screen image.

In one embodiment, after successful completion of the financialtransaction, the lock screen wallpaper is updated to display a digitalreceipt as new lock screen wallpaper. Such an example is shown in FIG.8. The digital receipt image may be received from a device at thebusiness location like a point of sale terminal or may be received overa network such as the Internet or via the cellular network. Afterdisplaying the image showing the digital receipt as the lock screenwallpaper, the mobile device may revert to a default lock screenwallpaper (i.e., a lock screen wallpaper previously set by a user) uponeither the expiration of another pre-determined time (e.g., a fewseconds after the display of the image showing the digital receipt) orupon the user leaving the premises of the business location.

In one embodiment, the scannable code comprises user-definedcustomization data related to the financial transaction in addition toinformation required to perform the financial transaction. For example,the user may have previously stored data identifying order detailsassociated with a drink (e.g., type of drink—coffee/espresso/cappuccino,syrup additives, number of pumps of syrup additives, type of milk to beused to make drink, etc.) or order details associated with a food item(type of toppings on a pizza, requested condiments, etc.) and thispreviously stored information regarding the order details may be encodedinto the scannable code (at either the request of the user or isautomatically identified via a profile storing what was previouslyordered at the business location and is presented to the user forverification prior to being encoded as the scannable code), where thepoint of sale terminal may decode this information and the attendant atthe point of sale terminal can review the order details. Such orderdetails that may be encoded along with information required to perform afinancial transaction may be useful in getting an order correct as it isdirectly from the user and is not based on the attendant at the point ofsale terminal inputting such data, which by definition is error prone.

In one embodiment, the financial transaction is a cloud-basedtransaction, wherein a payment provider automatically covers the cost ofa purchase with issuer linked funds and, in a separate transaction, thepayment provider charging the purchaser's selected, cloud-linked accountin a card-not-present environment to recoup its losses on the firsttransaction.

In one embodiment, the image having a scanning code for use at thebusiness location is generated by a software running on the mobiledevice, wherein the software is associated with the business location.

Non-limiting examples of the mobile device include any of the following:a mobile phone, a tablet, a portable gaming device or a digital musicplayer.

FIG. 2 illustrates another embodiment of the present invention's methodto facilitate a financial transaction without unlocking a mobile device,wherein the method comprises the steps of: identifying the mobile deviceis at a business location (step 202); passively authenticating a user ofthe mobile device as an authorized user of the mobile device near apoint of sale terminal at the business location (step 204), and uponsuccessful authentication: dynamically setting lock screen wallpaper inthe mobile device to an image having a scanning code for use at thebusiness location (step 206); activating a display of the mobile deviceand rendering the image having a scannable code as the lock screenwallpaper on the activated display of the mobile device which remains inthe screen locked state (step 208); and facilitating a financialtransaction at the business location based on the scannable codedisplayed as the lock screen wallpaper of the mobile device, thefinancial transaction facilitated without having to unlock the mobiledevice (step 210).

The above-presented discussion with regards to FIG. 1 applies to FIG. 2,but it should be noted that in this embodiment, the passiveauthentication is done while the user is near the point of sale terminalat the business location.

FIG. 3 depicts a non-limiting example of a mobile device 300 accordingto the present invention. While select components (processor 302 memory304, display 306 (e.g. a touch screen display), speaker 308, microphone310, camera 312, wireless electronics 314 required for wirelesscommunication, GPS unit 316) are shown as being part of the mobiledevice 300, it should be noted that these components are provided as asimplistic case scenario and other known components (such as, but notlimited to, a Bluetooth module, a NFC module, a RFID module), may bepresent within the mobile device 300. Mobile device 300 comprises: aprocessor 302; a display 306; and memory/storage 304 storing computerreadable programmable code, which when executed by the processorimplements a method to facilitate a financial transaction withoutunlocking a mobile device, the memory/storage 304 comprising computerreadable program code to: identify the mobile device 300 is at abusiness location (using for example, GPS 316); passively authenticate auser of the mobile device 300 as an authorized user of the mobile device(using, for example, camera 312 to passively conduct facial recognitionor using touch screen display 306 to passively conduct fingerprintrecognition or passively inspecting a profile stored in memory 304 or aprofile stored at a network location which is downloaded to memory 304to identify if the user has been to the business location at about thesame time in the past), and upon successful authentication: dynamicallyset lock screen wallpaper in the mobile device 300 to an image having ascanning code for use at the business location; activate the display 306of the mobile device 300 and render the image having a scannable code asthe lock screen wallpaper on the activated display 306 of the mobiledevice 300 which remains in the screen locked state; and facilitate afinancial transaction at the business location based on the scannablecode displayed as the lock screen wallpaper of the mobile device 300,the financial transaction facilitated without having to unlock themobile device 300. It should be noted that the mobile device may includeany of the following: a mobile phone, a tablet, a portable gaming deviceor a digital music player.

Additionally, the present invention provides for an article ofmanufacture comprising computer readable program code contained withinimplementing one or more modules to facilitate a financial transactionwithout unlocking a mobile device. Furthermore, the present inventionincludes a computer program code-based product, which is a storagemedium having program code stored therein which can be used to instructa computer/processor to perform any of the methods associated with thepresent invention. The computer storage medium includes any of, but isnot limited to, the following: CD-ROM, DVD, magnetic tape, optical disc,hard drive, floppy disk, ferroelectric memory, flash memory,ferromagnetic memory, optical storage, charge coupled devices, magneticor optical cards, smart cards, EEPROM, EPROM, RAM, ROM, DRAM, SRAM,SDRAM, or any other appropriate static or dynamic memory or data storagedevices.

The present invention also provides for an article of manufacture havingnon-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising computerreadable program code executable by a processor to implement a method tofacilitate a financial transaction without unlocking a mobile device,the non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising: computerreadable program code identifying the mobile device is at a businesslocation; computer readable program code passively authenticating a userof the mobile device as an authorized user of the mobile device, andupon successful authentication: computer readable program codedynamically setting lock screen wallpaper in the mobile device to animage having a scanning code (e.g., a QR code, a barcode, etc.) for useat the business location; computer readable program code activating adisplay of the mobile device and rendering the image having a scannablecode as the lock screen wallpaper on the activated display of the mobiledevice which remains in the screen locked state; and computer readableprogram code facilitating a financial transaction at the businesslocation based on the scannable code displayed as the lock screenwallpaper of the mobile device, the financial transaction facilitatedwithout having to unlock the mobile device.

CONCLUSION

A system, method and article of manufacture has been shown in the aboveembodiments for the effective implementation of facilitating a financialtransaction without unlocking a mobile device. While various preferredembodiments have been shown and described, it will be understood thatthere is no intent to limit the invention by such disclosure, butrather, it is intended to cover all modifications falling within thespirit and scope of the invention, as defined in the appended claims.For example, the present invention should not be limited bysoftware/program, computing environment, mobile environment, specificcomputing hardware, or specific mobile hardware.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method to conserve power in a mobiledevice comprising: identifying said mobile device is at a businesslocation; passively authenticating a user of said mobile device as anauthorized user of said mobile device, and upon successfulauthentication: temporarily replacing a lock screen wallpaper in saidmobile device to an image having a scanning code, said scanning codeencoding payment information for purchases at said business location;activating a display of said mobile device and rendering said imagehaving said scanning code as said lock screen wallpaper on saidactivated display of said mobile device which remains in said screenlocked state; and conserving power in said mobile device by providingsaid image having said scanning code as said lock screen wallpaper ofsaid mobile device, without having to unlock said mobile device.
 2. Amethod to conserve power in a mobile device comprising: identifying saidmobile device is at a business location; passively authenticating a userof said mobile device as an authorized user of said mobile device, andupon successful authentication: temporarily replacing a lock screenwallpaper in said mobile device to an image having a scanning code, saidscanning code encoding both payment information for purchases at saidbusiness location and user-defined customization data for purchases atsaid business location; activating a display of said mobile device andrendering said image having said scanning code as said lock screenwallpaper on said activated display of said mobile device which remainsin said screen locked state; and conserving power in said mobile deviceby providing said image having said scanning code as said lock screenwallpaper of said mobile device, without having to unlock said mobiledevice.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein said user-definedcustomization data comprises order details associated with a food or adrink.
 4. A method to conserve power in a mobile device comprising:identifying said mobile device is at a business location; passivelyauthenticating a user of said mobile device as an authorized user ofsaid mobile device, and upon successful authentication: temporarilyreplacing a lock screen wallpaper in said mobile device to an imagehaving a scanning code, said scanning code encoding payment informationfor purchases at said business location; activating a display of saidmobile device and rendering said image having said scanning code as saidlock screen wallpaper on said activated display of said mobile devicewhich remains in said screen locked state; temporarily replacing lockscreen wallpaper in said mobile device to another image showingremaining balance in a financial account associated with said scanningcode upon successful completion of a financial transaction at saidbusiness location; and wherein power is conserved power in said mobiledevice by providing said image having said scanning code as said lockscreen wallpaper of said mobile device, without having to unlock saidmobile device, and by providing said another image showing remainingbalance as said lock screen wallpaper of said mobile device, withouthaving to unlock said mobile device.